It costs money to run a site like hencam. If everyone decided to help in whatever way they could (even in ways that don't cost anything), it would be great. We don't want your hard earned money, but you can help in other ways...

You can help by:- ordering through hencam's amazon link - it doesn't cost you anything!- clicking on one of the targeted adverts - it doesn't cost you anything and the ads link to useful sites!

Oh no, did it say they were messy? Well, at least the couch and carpet's already red! I'm sure it'll tidy up, we've always managed with beef knuckles and they're very 'bitty' and they stink!

I will ask where they're from when I buy one, but I doubt they'll know!

Zoey has started refusing to sleep anywhere unless she is on or next to me. This may sound cute...but it isn't! It means she has to walk backwards and forwards on top of me to hunt out the best place to lie, which is painful, then dig at my clothes and scratch me to make it as comfy as possible. Then of course she has to turn in circles a few times to trample me down...Other than that it's very cute!

Hah - Tuppence has to sleep on top of me in bed. Which is fine until I need to turn over or if I get a hot flush and need to throw the bedclothes off - I get terrible glares then! So I can sympathise! The red stain thing was on google when I looked it up, and the source of the root is secret, apparently!

Had a great walk with Zoey today but omg the prom was SO busy!!! I guess it is a sunny saturday but sheesh! Zoey didn't mind at all though and coped well with all the kids, wheelchairs and bikes going past, she was a real star!

She saw loads of dogs and was so well behaved - she's amazingly polite with other dogs, not like Kasper who used to jump all over them when he was her age!! We saw a 12 week old puppy too that was soooo cute! Zoey really wanted to say hello but the puppy was too scared; I got it close enough to sniff with some coaxing, it was adorable.

Here is Zoey wanting to say hello to some dogs on the beach, she lies down every time she sees a dog - very cute

We had a rest on a bench because the prom was packed out with little kids so we thought we'd wait for it to quieten...I love this pic, she looks the cutest little thing here!

Lynn she's really fast, that's why I wonder if there isn't a little Whippet in her breed mix somewhere. She has the body shape (although that could just be because she's skinny :P ) and she runs the same as a Whippet too, the same body motion...who knows?!

Thanks Kate!

My parents and grandparents are coming for a visit today, so whilst they're in the house the dogs are gonna be out in the garden with Lyle. Kasper finds my grandparents very scary, poor boy, and Zoey would be flinging herself madly at everyone so it's probably best they don't meet!!!

Had a lovely walk with Zoey today and she got to say hi to loads of doggie friends. We have seen lots of puppies on our walks these past few days. There was a gorgeous Border Collie puppy we saw with Kasper that was only 12 weeks old. Kasper TERRIFIED her!! To be fair he was acting like a real pleb, jumping around and trying to play with her, and he was overly anxious with her male owner and jumping up to say hi to him too...fool

However I got to say hi to her and she was a lovely gently shy puppy. She came over very slowly and gave me some beautiful kisses!!

Zoey got to say hi to the other three pups we saw, and they all responded really well to her as she's much calmer and far more polite than Kasper. Here she is saying hello to a friend of hers - see her stalker walk?!

And today the dogs got to try cucumber for the first time, and they both loved it!! This is very unusual as whereas Kasper would scoff any vegetables going, Zoey is much more picky and only really likes carrot and frozen broccoli / cauliflower.

She did have to fling the cucumber around a bit before settling down to eat it, but she definitely enjoyed it...Kasper was very jealous as Zoey took about five minutes eating one slice and he ate about four in two seconds flat!

I love that picture of Zoey That looks like she is laughing and Kasper looking at her like she's some kind of a nut case. I also like that picture you took of all the small rocks. You sure have a great eye for taking pictures!

Thanks Lynn, I think the one of the small rocks is one of my favourite pics I've ever taken...of something so simple too!

Kate, you can't see in the pic, but there are hundreds of holes burned into the lid to allow for air flow!

Zoey's impulse control has improved and now she can leave a treat as I roll it in front of her. Not bad for her age at all! Next I want to work on leaving it as I drop a treat, even Kasper's not great at that...in many ways Zoey has a much easier life than Kasper ever did. With Kasper we always expected him not to jump up at the kitchen counters, to wait before leaving the door etc etc, whereas with Zoey, because she's the youngest, she can get away with murder and we put it down to her just being a baby...she's almost a year old!!

That's not to say she can't do her fair share of tricks, because she knows quite a wide range of impressive things to do...just that she can get away with things that Kasper has never been able to!

Ooops, disturbed a sleeping Zoey when the video started playing automatically!!

There has been some lovely playfighting in our living room today too. Kasper as usual had Zoey on her back, her neck flab in his mouth, and was shaking her like a rag doll haha! It reminded me of when she was tiny, and he used to take her by the neck and drag her, upside-down, over to the huge dog bed we used to have haha!

Zoey has started spinning to entice Kasper into playing with her, so we have seen a resurgence of this annoying habit. I took a photo of Zoey when she was spinning and she stopped immediately and looked at me as if to say "Mummy! That's not when you're supposed to take photos, what are you doing?!" (see first pic below) It was brilliant!!

Then she started following me around and sitting every time I looked at her, until I finally obliged and took a photo - very cute! Meanwhile Kasper was chilling on the couch like the golden boy that he (usually!) is

Posted By: KatebAh, little holes! You did that before for one of your pets didn't you - I remember poor Lyle spending hours over it!

Oh god yeah, that was with Bam...we were using a tiny screwdriver back then and it took HOURS! Now we use a soldering iron, it makes much larger holes and it's much, much quicker and easier!

Ah Lynn they're both such characters! And hahaha that's totally what Kasper was thinking, although in most ways he is worse than Zoey...he waits until Zoey has settled and everything is nice and peaceful, then goes and leaps on her and causes anarchy again!! He's also started to pick up all her naughty habits, can you believe it?! He's started pilfering from the kitchen counters because he's watched her do it, and chew on the living room throws because she does it...it's supposed to be the other way around Kasper, she's supposed to learn your good habits!!

I should probably start doing more grooming with Zoey, I've only practise groomed her a few times because she really doesn't need it...but I'd hate for her to grow up being as fearful with grooming as Kasper used to be. He's fine now though, as you can see!

I love the way Zoey eats things, she opens her mouth really wide and it makes for some great photos!

See Zoey won't eat that many vegetables, but the ones she will eat she LOVES! And Kasper, who can be quite a picky eater, will eat any fruit or vegetable going...he loves apples, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cooked cabbage...anything!

Used my new dog grooming scissors today that I got for my birthday, they are great! Chopped all the huge tangles out from underneath Kasper's ears and shortened the length on his outer ears too. He was really good throughout, although Lyle did have to constantly feed him treats but Kasper *hates* having anything done to his ears.

No, it's just explaining them all I always find all the different terms really hard to remember and explain, other than positive reinforcement, and thought this poster was a nice easy way to remember them!

Leash corrections are very bad for dogs, not only can they damage necks but they can cause fear and aggressive behaviour to escalate. Whenever I see someone yanking their dog by the neck it always makes me cringe!

It's Zoey's birthday tomorrow (seeing as we don't know the exact date we figured she could just share mine!) and we have finally bought all her presents. She has a large nylabone (she LOVES nylabones), a supposedly durable stuffed toy, a cheap stuffed toy for her to destroy, and a large piece of antler for her to chew on. I can't wait to give her her pressies!

Zoey hasn't gotten her presents yet, the poor pup! We are waiting until Kasper is away in his crate so she can have a good old play with them. Here's a sneak peek...the pineapple thing is huge and makes a rather odd honking sound when you squeeze it!! And the antler is the biggest piece we could find, I think she'll really like that

As for me I've had a lovely birthday. We went and walked some dogs at the rescue and when I got back I wrapped up in my dressing gown with my birthday slippers on and read some of the books Lyle and my parents bought me...perfect!

Later tonight we're playing a magnetic drinking fishing game that Lyle got me too, it'll be great fun! You're supposed to use shots but the amount of times it tells you to take a shot I think we'll just be sipping them!!

Lyle was a bit miffed because we spent as much on Zoey as we do on each other, but it is her very first birthday!!

Zoey has had the time of her life with her presents, it's been brilliant!

She was given the antler first, and was having a good old gnaw on it when I sat Mr Pineapple down next to her, which thoroughly distracted her! So then she begin tearing Mr Pineapple apart and having a grand old time pulling out his stuffing and flinging it EVERYWHERE!!

After Mr Pineapple had been suitably emptied, she went back to her antler before spotting the stuffed squirrel we got her...well, then we got to see how 'durable' the squirrel really was, which turned out to be not at all!! So then the room was also covered in squirrel stuffing!

She's back on the antler now and hasn't looked once at her nylabone, which I'm surprised about!

Zoey actually managed to eat all the antler on the second night within ten minutes!!!

Not good at all, and we are having to keep a very close eye on her in case we need to whip her to the vets...she's been fine so far, thank god. I will NOT be buying an antler from that company again, there must have been something wrong with it...no antler should be able to be totally eaten within an hour!! Stagbars only for us from now on, jeez!

Wow, she ate it in an hour..I hope there is nothing in it that would hurt her. My Jack Russel loves to rip things up like that too, if they are made out of material fuzzy stuff instead of latex. She tries to be careful with her latex squeak toys.

Haha aw bless her! Our two will just destroy anything and everything, it doesn't even have to be toys...shoes, post and even the mat their water bowl's on will suffice!!

She seems fine so far so I think an emergency has been avoided, *touch wood*! I was worried she would have swallowed a big chunk that could get stuck inside her somewhere, but she has pooping as normal = very happy mummy!!

Ugh I have been having such crappy sleep for so long, it's putting me in such a foul mood. I've been low since before we moved to this house, and the stress of having to move again isn't helping haha! Think I need a med meddle, but don't want to go back to the GP as they are useless...I got a referral ages back but haven't heard anything of it!

Haha, I think it's very common in adolescent dogs. Kasper was the same, he used to be so skinny he would be sick in the morning because his stomach was empty, but when he hit about 2 years old he really bulked up. In fact we had to lessen his food intake a few days ago because he was getting a bit chubby!

Zoey's breed are meant to have strong jaw and teeth, so it's no wonder she got through it so quickly. Another fab photo!

Waiting times for mental health services are horrendous nationally, just not enough money put into it. Chase your GP, or find another - maybe moving again will do you a favour in that you might find a better doctor. Do you find female GPs are better at mental health than male?

In the old days when you hung your number up when you went in to see the GPs in our practice, it was very noticeable how quickly the male GPs got through patients compared to the female ones. I wonder if that's why they did away with that system!

I guess so. There've only been two MH professionals I really trusted and respected (one was my last GP) and both of them were female.

Zoey saw seven dogs on her walk today! It was lovely weather so I think it got everyone out in case it was the last nice weather of the year haha. We had a great time though and Zoey loved saying hi to all the different dogs.

Got some funny ones of Zoey spinning, she looks like she's dancing! She's pretty much stopped spinning now and only does it to try get Kasper's attention and make him play with her - which works nearly all the time unfortunately!

We had the most idiotic owner of a Bichon Frise today. Letting their dog say hello to others, yet when they saw Zoey (omg not a Staffie!!!) they picked their dog up, crossed to the other side of the path and HID IT FROM VIEW!!! What?!?!?!

It's utterly hilarious and at the same time sad how IGNORANT people are. If someone hid their child from a certain race of person, they would be (rightly) denounced as a bigot. Anyway, Zoe would NEVER eat a bichon frise...the wool would get in her teeth...

I've never had someone hide a dog from view before, that was a first...if I wasn't so unbelieving I would have laughed out loud!

Kate, I always appreciate people asking first, for any dog. I think going to stroke a dog without asking is just rude and asking to be bitten at some point - we can't get along with everyone so why do we expect dogs to?! Plus it gives me the opportunity to say no thank you with Kasper as he was abused in the past, and beware with Zoey as she will lick and nibble!!

Thanks for that-I usually do unless the dog has bounded up to me then I just assume it's OK!

I was thinking about this last night and wonder if they've had a really bad experience in the past with a staffy. It's unfair to tar them all with the same brush but I could understand their fear if that were the case. Many years ago my neighbour had a staffy that almost tore an old lady's poodle apart. It was down to the local shop keeper that the poodle survived, and my neighbour had no remorse. Stupid irresponsible woman.

Actually, I was walking down our footpath today,towards some people with a spaniel puppy on a lead. The brat with the lead saw me coming and hastily swept the puppy up into her arms. I have NEVER attacked a puppy in my life. Brats, yes, puppies, no...

What is it with people not understanding that puppies and adult dogs need socialising with other dogs and people?! *rolls eyes*

Kate, that's true, I don't often ask if I can pet a dog but judge it's behaviour and let it approach me. If people did that with Zoey they'd be in for a shock though haha!

Ugh it probably is that they've had one bad experience with a Staffy, and thanks to the media portrayal of the breed never trusted any other Staffy ever again!! If I did that I'd be keeping well away from Labs, I've lost count of the number of times Kasper has been attacked or growled at by a Lab, usually one off-lead...

Labs used to top the list for attacks, but that could've been because there are more of them.

Have you ever seen American Brad Pattison, a puppy behaviourist on Sky? My friend got a pug puppy at the weekend and he's working with a 9week old pug. He's told the family not to talk to it, they're dragging it along with its lead at his instruction, and there's no mention of rewards!

Posted By: KatebHave you ever seen American Brad Pattison, a puppy behaviourist on Sky? My friend got a pug puppy at the weekend and he's working with a 9week old pug. He's told the family not to talk to it, they're dragging it along with its lead at his instruction, and there's no mention of rewards!

Oh no no no no NO!

Tell them to stop immediately...this guy is well known as being an absolute psycho and is physically abusive to dogs. There's a video of him "training" on YouTube where he borrows a crowd members' dog to use an example. The dog is straining and whining to get back to his mummy, and the "trainer" is getting more and more annoyed, and eventually he yanks it off its' front legs by the collar and punches it in the face!!!

I can recommend loads of stuff...they want a positive, reward-based trainer. Dominance and pack theory have long since been scientifically disproven (can provide lots of links if needed).

Corrections and punishments aren't needed with dogs, instead you want to redirect or ignore bad behaviours...so if the dog is jumping up, for example, either ignore the dog until s/he is doing something you want, or redirect by asking the dog to sit. Dogs don't know right from wrong, they learn by doing whatever reaps the most rewards...if we can train them to think that behaving is the best because they get treats and praise, and misbehaving gets them nothing, then they will behave!

Kikopup on YouTube has loads of free, FANTASTIC puppy, behavioural and training videos.

Some fantastic books include Puppy Primer, How To Train A Superpup, How To Train A Superdog, How To Train Your Dog Positively...

Aw this makes me so sad...I feel sorry for this poor baby pug and hope they ditch what they've learnt pronto

My friend didn't see it, but if she had she'd have ignored it. She prefers Victoria Stillwell too. I said I'd ask you for recommendations but you beat me to it! Thanks-she won't be dragging her puppy around!

Ah I seeeee. Sorry, I misunderstood and thought they were using his techniques on their new puppy

We managed to avoid a grand total of zero trick or treaters last night, but hid upstairs in the bedroom with the dogs just in case! Our street has about six houses total on it and no street lamps, so doesn't attract much attention - lucky us!

Nobody comes up our long dark scary footpath, fortunately. My friend dragged her kids up here years ago but we turned all the lights off, I opened the door with a green light stick lighting my face and we made then pick their sweets out of the brain jar which Eric got from Edgeware mortuary. They never came again...

We set off today with such high hopes, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, the dog walks were lovely and we had a house viewing too...but then the guinea pigs completely shocked us...on the positive side we did get the house though, so at least that is something...it's a lovely house in a tiny little village with a great dog walk only a minute's walk away...

Here are some pics from Kasper's walk this morning, the view is simply stunning...Kasper thought so too

The house was really lovely...I'm not excited at the prospect of moving again, but the location and house have me very giddy! We are moving at the end of this month I think - just in time to put up Christmas decorations in the new house!!

Red, it's wonderful that you found a new house, you will still be in the same town you are in now, won't you? The pictures of the sea are so beautiful. I'm glad that you will be in your new house by Christmas, it sounds ideal.

Thank you Lynn! We'll be the town over, but still only a ten minute drive from Lyle's parents. We will live about a fifteen minutes' walk from the town where there's a supermarket, GP and other necessities, but the village we'll actually be in is so tiny!

Kasper has to cope without a walk today, at least until after Lyle's hospital appt as we slept in - ooops! He only got a tiny walk yesterday too as when we stepped out the house a blizzard began haha! There was torrential rain and hail the size of my head!! We got about ten minutes down the prom (neither of us in waterproofs as the weather had been fine all day, might I add!), sheltered under the boating building, then walked back when the hail had stopped...poor Kasper!

Luckily he's really not bothered with storms, fireworks, hail etc. Which is weird considering he's such a sensitive dog...he seems to be so easy with things that most dogs are afraid of, but strangers, loud voices, threatening behaviour (to dogs that is) all terrify him. And he's not a fan of the vets, but I think that's applicable to most dogs :P

Haha, no it's pretty terrible, and does indeed touch the ceiling in places! I was on the phone to my parents and rested my foot against the wall and a huge piece of wallpaper just peeled away and slid away from the wall...I was like 'AAAGH, gonna get charged for that!' then Lyle pointed out all the wallpaper will definitely need to come off anyway

Yuk Red, sounds awful! There was discussion last year I believe around how much housing benefit was being taken by landlords who offered sub-standard housing and what should be done. Don't think anything was ever put into practice though. They probably won't do anything about the damp when you move out, just slap a bit more paint and paper over it.